{"id":13857,"date":"2026-08-18T17:54:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T17:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=13857"},"modified":"2026-08-18T17:54:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T17:54:27","slug":"pakistan-suffer-major-blow-as-captain-babar-azam-ruled-out-of-first-test-against-england-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=13857","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan suffer major blow as captain Babar Azam ruled out of first Test against England | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-133327038,imgsize-44090,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/babar-azam.jpg\" alt=\"Pakistan suffer major blow as captain Babar Azam ruled out of first Test against England\" title=\"Babar Azam\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Pakistan suffer a major setback ahead of the first Test against England as newly reappointed captain <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/player-profile\/babar-azam\/59429\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Babar Azam<\/a> is ruled out with a finger injury. Babar injures the middle finger of his right hand while batting against the West Indies and aggravates it during a warm-up game in Beckenham.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"4\"\/>\u201cPakistan captain Babar Azam is unavailable for the first test match,\u201d Pakistan coach <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/sarfaraz-ahmed\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sarfaraz Ahmed<\/a> said. \u201cSalman Agha will be the captain for the first test.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"8\"\/><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"10\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3>Babar ruled out, Agha takes charge<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"12\"\/>Ahmed confirms that Babar\u2019s finger is not broken but says the team hopes the pain settles in time for the second Test at Lord\u2019s, starting August 27. Babar\u2019s absence is a significant blow after he recently returned as captain and was Pakistan\u2019s leading run-scorer against the West Indies.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"16\"\/>Agha is set to captain Pakistan in a Test for the first time, having already led the team in T20 cricket. Shan Masood, who was replaced by Babar as captain, also returns after recovering from a broken finger.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"18\"\/>\u201cOur practice match gave us a lot of confidence,\u201d Ahmed said. \u201cWhatever bases we needed to cover with bat and ball, we did. We believe we&#8217;ll do very well here.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"21\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3>England also enter new era<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"24\"\/>England, meanwhile, begin the series under a changed leadership setup. <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/joe-root\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Joe Root<\/a> returns as captain following Ben Stokes\u2019 retirement, while <!-- -->Brendon McCullum<!-- --> has also left the coaching role. Marcus Trescothick takes interim charge as new coach Stephen Fleming misses the series.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"31\"\/>Root, who previously led England from 2017 to 2022, says his experience has prepared him for another stint as captain.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"33\"\/>\u201cI feel as ready as any other England captain that&#8217;s ever been before,\u201d Root said. \u201cTo have that amount of experience is invaluable.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"35\"\/>Harry Brook remains vice-captain, with Root confident of his support.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"37\"\/>\u201cI fully feel he&#8217;s got my back like the rest of the guys do,\u201d Root said.<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/news\/pakistan-suffer-major-blow-as-captain-babar-azam-ruled-out-of-first-test-against-england\/articleshow\/133326962.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pakistan suffer a major setback ahead of the first Test against England as newly reappointed captain Babar Azam is ruled out with a finger injury. Babar injures the middle finger of his right hand while batting against the West Indies and aggravates it during a warm-up game in Beckenham.\u201cPakistan captain Babar Azam is unavailable for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-31"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787075667_babar-azam.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787075667_babar-azam.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787075667_babar-azam.jpg","large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787075667_babar-azam.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787075667_babar-azam.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787075667_babar-azam.jpg","blogsy-small":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787075667_babar-azam.jpg","blogsy-small-tall":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787075667_babar-azam.jpg","blogsy-small-square":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787075667_babar-azam.jpg","blogsy-small-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787075667_babar-azam.jpg","blogsy-medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787075667_babar-azam.jpg","blogsy-medium-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787075667_babar-azam.jpg","blogsy-large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787075667_babar-azam.jpg","blogsy-wide":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787075667_babar-azam.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"Pakistan suffer a major setback ahead of the first Test against England as newly reappointed captain Babar Azam is ruled out with a finger injury. Babar injures the middle finger of his right hand while batting against the West Indies and aggravates it during a warm-up game in Beckenham.\u201cPakistan captain Babar Azam is unavailable for [&hellip;]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":1,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":2,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787075667_babar-azam.jpg",400,225,false],"medium":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787075667_babar-azam.jpg",300,169,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787075667_babar-azam.jpg",150,84,false]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/author\/admin"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"<a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-31\">\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}